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Luke Vandersluys-owned Leneva Park is an acclaimed full-service thoroughbred pre-training and spelling business that specialises in the preparation of horses for the racetrack and commercial sales. Although a relatively new business, Vandersluys’ commitment to the industry has helped him and the Leneva Park team earn considerable market respect.
Well known Thoroughbred media celebrity Mick Sharkie and Leneva Park’s General Manager and resident Bloodstock Advisor has much on his plate ahead of Leneva Park’s first breeding season, with two stallions including Group 1 winning first season stallion Fierce Impact on their roster.
The multi-hyphenate talks to The Impact about their sale season so far, and his extraordinary friendship with Toby Liston of Three Bridges and the vision for Leneva Park
Q: Leneva Park recently completed the Australian sales season at Magic Millions National Sale. Can you tell us about the season from your perspective?
A: The 2021 sales season has been a busy and exciting time for Leneva Park. We took drafts to Melbourne Premier, Adelaide Magic Millions, and to the National Sale on the Gold Coast, all horses offered were for clients of the farm. We were busy at the broodmare sales too and added six new mares this season including our first ever purchase from the Inglis Chairman’s Sale, Savvan. The sales across the board were very strong, averages were up and confidence in the Australian racing market is high – it’s a great time for the sport.
Q: How long have you been exhibiting at Australian sales? Please tell us about your top-performing graduates from this sale historically?
A: Because Leneva Park is a relatively new business – we are coming up for our second birthday – this was only the second year of sales we have taken drafts to. Our focus as a young business will be to target the Inglis Premier Sale and build a strong draft there in years to come before we up our sights and look to the Gold Coast January Sale. I’m very conscious of working towards that strategy. As a Victorian farm, offering high-quality stock at Melbourne Premier will always be a focus, we are looking forward to the 2022 sales season already.
Q: Please tell us more about the yearlings that went into the ring this year as well as the Leneva Park-bred yearlings that we’ve heard so much about?
A: The first Leneva Park bred yearlings will go to market in 2022; all of the stock that we have sold to date in 2021 have been client-owned horses. We have a great team that works with our weanlings and yearlings, headed by our Yearling Manager Jenny Saunders and our Broodmare Manager Lauren Hosking, and our clients have been thrilled with the way that their young horses have been prepared. We aim to give them the best start in life that we can so that they bring the best results in the sales ring and on the racetrack.
Q: Please tell us about your stallions, Fierce Impact and Royal Meeting.
A: We were thrilled to negotiate and purchase a major stake in Fierce Impact, one of Deep Impact’s best sons and a three-time Group 1 winning miler in his own right. He’s a beautiful horse, athletic and correct, when we paraded him for breeders and agents at Inglis Riverside in May he got rave reviews. Given the potency of Deep Impact, especially over Danehill line and Galileo line mares, we are very confident that he has what it takes to make an impact at stud – pardon the pun!
Royal Meeting was an unbeaten Group 1 winning two-year-old in Europe and he is a son of the influential Invincible Spirit who we know has left I Am Invincible in Australia. Royal Meeting is a beautiful horse, he would win a beauty contest for sure, he served a strong first-year book for Aquis in 2020 and they decided to leave him with us for the next three years which is great for Victorian breeders. He is the best value son of Invincible Spirit at stud in Australia and we’re looking forward to showing him off to breeders this season.
Q: Who is your biggest inspiration and why?
A: The breeding industry in Australia and in Victoria particularly is experiencing some positive change in recent years driven in part by strong yearling sales and race track prizemoney but also by new investment. Personally, I take great inspiration from a farm like Three Bridges which has many similarities to our business. They are a family-owned and run farm and through my friendship with Toby Liston, I have watched their business grow and develop and enjoy much success. Their “quality over quantity” approach certainly makes sense to me.
Q: What is the next milestone for you? What can we expect from you in the future?
A: I think from a sales sense we want to continue to develop a brand that buyers recognise as offering quality to the market. That will take some time to do but we can work on it year by year, sale by sale, horses by horse. In the short term we are very excited to offer the first of our yearlings born on the farm at sales in 2022, and of course to the arrival of the first foals bred by Leneva Park this coming spring. There is a lot to look forward to.